The Anatomy of the Robot is about what it is like to be human: What is life and what makes us human? In the play science and emotions are dissected and human existence is mirrored in the latest research in robotics and artificial life.
The play is set in the Modern Anatomical Theatre on the borderline between dream and reality, theatre and lecture. Onstage we meet the mystical scientist Thomas Bartholin (played by renowned Danish actor Baard Owe) and his younger colleague Maria (played by Jeanette Lindbæk Larsen); Maria has created an exact robotic copy of her husband Jeff (played by Morten Steensgaard) and thus pushed the boundaries of science. But doubt is luring beneath the surface and as the boundaries between the copy and the original are blurred it is clear that nothing is what is seems in the Modern Anatomical Theatre.
The actors are accompanied by scientists and scholars from the University of Southern Denmark – physicist, philosophers and robot engineers, as well as Sif the border collie and several robots.
The play is directed by Bent Nørgaard. Set design by Catia Hauberg Engel. Music by Hans Sydow and manuscript by Michael Valeur. Financial support by The Danish Council for Independent Research | Humanities (FKK) and The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The Anatomy of the Robot played 17 times in Odense, Denmark at Teater Momentum during April and September 2009.